Andrew Rickards

When I was studying music at university my piano teacher used to tell me “Everything you need to know about playing the piano can be written on the back of a postage stamp but it takes a lifetime to learn it.” I’m not sure whether that was his saying or he was quoting someone else […]

In part one of this article we looked at some of the general principles of memorising music. In part two I want to discuss some of the more practical details. There are at least two aspects of memorising music that the piano student should be aware of; muscle memory and mental or intellectual memory. Muscle memory […]

On June 9, 1840, at the Hanover Square Rooms in London, Franz Liszt gave the first ever solo piano recital. At the time, music concerts would be given by a number of different performers. It was unheard of for a single performer to give an entire concert alone. Liszt, however, was extraordinarily popular, a thorough […]

In part one of this article I wrote about the principles behind effective learning and good practice habits. In this part I want to discuss some of the more practical aspects of learning and practising the piano. It is important to remember, however, that whatever I recommend here should by no means be taken as […]

Effective Practice is not Easy Practice Learning to play the piano should be both enjoyable and rewarding, however, it is never going to be easy. Even modest gains will only come through regular and persistent practice and the unfortunate truth is that without noticeable improvement many students get discouraged – making the thought of practising […]

There is no doubt that being able to play lots of notes in quick succession at the piano can be exciting for the pianist and impressive for the audience. It is only natural, therefore, that a student may want to develop a certain degree of velocity at the piano . In fact, not only is […]